Aylesbury Concert Band once again provided music for the Mayor’s Remembrance Service at St Mary’s Church, Aylesbury on 7th November, together with the Aylesbury Consort of Voices and St Mary’s Church Choir. The service was led by the Rector, Fr. Doug Zimmerman, with readings by members of the congregation, hymns and prayers, and music from the Band and the choirs.
As the Mayoral party processed into the church the Band played Nimrod by Edward Elgar. Following the welcome and bidding prayers from Fr. Zimmerman, the Aylesbury Consort of Voices sang Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd. During the service they also sang Abendlied by Josef Rheinberger and part of Un soir de Neige by Francis Poulenc. The church choir contributed by singing Crossing the Bar by Hubert Parry, and the Band was responsible for accompanying the hymns, and also played The Sun will Rise Again by Philip Sparke. At the end of the service the band played Ammerland by Jacob de Haan as an epilogue.
Music is a vital part of solemn occasions such as this, and we are pleased to be able to make our contribution to the community in this way.
The major event every year is the “Proms” concert organised by Aylesbury Town Council in Vale Park, Aylesbury. This year the band was joined by soloists Alison Langer and Lawrence Thackray and the Next Stage Choir in a programme of Musicals from stage and screen, including Les Misérables, Wicked, Hairspray, and Matilda. As usual the concert took place on the August Bank Holiday Sunday, 25th August.
The weather that evening was unseasonably cool with a brief sprinkling of rain as we were about to start, but that didn’t deter a crowd of several thousand people filling the park to enjoy the music.
As usual the concert ended with the traditional “Proms” finale, Jerusalem, Fantasia on British Sea Songs (with Alison Langer singing Rule Britannia), and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1, accompanying Land of Hope and Glory, followed by a firework display.
Summer is the time for village fêtes and garden parties, and it’s a long standing tradition to have a band provide live music for the occasion. Naturally Aylesbury Band gets called upon to play at fêtes every year, and this year was no exception.
Of the two regular events the first was on the spring bank holiday Monday at the village fête in Stone, a village near Aylesbury on the Oxford road. This being England there is no guarantee that the weather will be fine, and this year the sky was overcast and threatened rain. Sure enough, just as we played the first note of the first piece it started to rain. Although we had a tent for shelter it was too small for the whole band and the players at the front began to get wet and had to get under cover. Fortunately the rain didn’t last long and we were able to continue, and mercifully the showers stayed away for the rest of time we were playing.
The second occasion was Fairford Leys Summer Fayre, which takes place every year in Hampden Square, Aylesbury, and this year was on 13th July. The morning had been showery, but by the afternoon it was dry, and the sun even shone from time to time. There is a small bandstand in the square for the Band to use and it’s a bit of a squeeze to get everybody on, but we usually manage. We played two sessions during the afternoon as people thronged among the various stands around the square.
Now it’s time to start preparing for the main event of our year, the Vale Park Proms in Aylesbury in August.
One of the oboe players in Aylesbury Concert Band is Alison Swindles, who also happens to be in the army as a member of the Band of the Household Cavalry. She enjoys coming to play with us as well, and is currently the Band chairman. She was inspired to propose that the Household Cavalry Band should do a joint concert with Aylesbury Band in aid of service charities, and she was instrumental in campaigning to make this happen. Thus on the afternoon of Sunday 10th March the two bands, some 72 musicians in all, went on stage together at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury to raise money for SSAFA – The Armed Forces Charity and the Army Benevolent Fund. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the Household Cavalry Band, which was formed in 2014 by the union of The Band of The Life Guards with The Band of The Blues and Royals, the two mounted bands of the British Army. It is also the 30th anniversary of the formation of Aylesbury Town Band, now called Aylesbury Concert Band, and of the Royal Corps of Army Music.
The conducting was shared between Major Craig Bywater, the Director of Music of the Household Cavalry Band, and Brendan Gudgeon, conductor of Aylesbury Concert Band. The title of the concert was A Symphonic Celebration, and this was the name of the first item which opened the concert following the National Anthem. This is a lively piece of celebratory music written by the American composer Robert Sheldon.
The complete programme is listed below, but several items are worthy of special mention. Following A Symphonic Celebration was The Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare by Richard Strauss, which featured the State Trumpeters playing fanfare trumpets. Festive Overture by Shostakovich came next, taken by Major Bywater at a speed that made no concessions to the amateurs of Aylesbury Band, and none was needed.
The concert wasn’t all classical music, it also included items such as So Nice to Come Home to by Cole Porter, Caravan by Duke Ellington, and an arrangement of songs by Frank Sinatra arranged by Stephen Bulla. We also played Aylesbury Dances by Rob Wiffin, which was commissioned by Aylesbury Band for its 25th anniversary year.
This concert was originally planned for autumn 2023, and the head of the Corps of Army Music, Lieutenant Colonel Craig Hallatt, wrote Carolean Jubilate specially for the occasion to celebrate the recent coronation of King Charles. In spite of the delay it still made a suitably celebratory finale for the concert. Lieutenant Colonel Hallatt was there himself to conduct its first public performance. The music features the Westminster chimes, echoes of William Walton’s coronation march Crown Imperial, and a quiet central section reflecting on the death of Queen Elizabeth. It finishes with a suitably joyous march for full band and the State Trumpeters.
